Osgoode in India
Photograph by Professor Dayna Scott
WHY INDIA? In October 2010, Osgoode and the Jindal Global Law School agreed to form a partnership, to collaborate on shared scholarly and academic projects and to facilitate student and faculty travel between Toronto and Delhi. As two multicultural, constitutional democracies with a shared common law legal tradition, Canada and India have much to offer each other and just as much to learn from one another’s experience. A conference in Toronto in the fall of 2010 explored many kindred topics including: - governance in a rapidly globalizing world and the impact on social justice; - human rights; - international trade and foreign investment, and; - environmental law. Osgoode is leading the way among Canadian law schools in research-driven collaboration in India and in thinking creatively about how to engage legal educators and the legal profession in both countries to achieve mutually beneficial results.
OSGOODE AND JINDAL SIGN MOU October 2010
L to R: Osgoode Professor Franรงois Tanguay-Renaud; York VP Research & Innovation Stan Shapson; Osgoode Associate Dean (Research, Graduate Studies and Institutional Relations) and Professor Lisa Philipps; Professor Dhirendra Kumar Srivastava and Dr. Sanjeev Purshotam Sahni of Jindal Global Law School; Osgoode Dean Lorne Sossin.
Fantastic conference at Osgoode.
We talked about comparative approaches to access to medicine, access to justice, dispute resolution, transnational governance, foreign investment and trade, identity politics, and more. While many of us were meeting each other for the first time, it was like picking up a conversation with an old friend in the middle of a shared thought.
Located in the vibrant National Capital Region, Jindal Global Law School (JGLS), part of O.P. Jindal Global University (JGU), imparts a rigorous and multi-disciplinary legal education with a view to producing world-class legal professionals, scholars, and public servants. JGLS empowers its students with knowledge, skills, and vision to meet the challenges and opportunities of a rapidly changing world.
Dr. Sanjeev Purshotam Sahni greets Dean Lorne Sossin with Professor Yugank Goyal, Assistant Dean, Jindal Global Law School in background.
Dean Lorne Sossin with Professor and Vice Chancellor C. Raj Kumar.
Professor Allan Hutchinson speaking on legal ethics.
Professor Allan Hutchinson and Dean Lorne Sossin in front of the Law School’s impressive new building. Professor Lisa Philipps speaking about tax expenditures.
Osgoode Professors Gus van Harten; Allan Hutchinson; François Tanguay-Renaud; Lisa Philipps; Aaron Dhir; Dayna Scott; and Dean Lorne Sossin (missing, Professor Poonam Puri).
My Own India Experience
After 15.5 hours in the air, a five-hour stopover in Frankfurt and a nine hour time difference, I arrived in Delhi at 3:00 am. It felt like rush hour. As I came to learn, Delhi is a vibrant city day and night.
I had a little
time to
el of life in
d get the fe
Dehli an walk around
mic city. such a dyna
Great to meet some of Delhi’s leading litigators, most of whom practice in “chambers� attached to their homes.
Seeing the painted cow reminded me of the painted Moose campaign back home, and how familiar a foreign place can seem. Some th in the Dilli gs, however, a re truly Haat m d arket is like no “s istinct, and the amazin treet me g at” I’ve ever trie array of Indian cuisine d. a
t
University of Dehli.
Standing in the midst of one of the many architectural treasures inside Delhi’s famous “Red Fort” constructed by Mughal Emperor Shahjahan in 1648.
d
I have been so impressed with the dedication and hard work that made this journey such a success, from Inbal Marcovitch of our Research Office, to the leadership of Lisa Philipps, our Associate Dean for Research, Graduate Studies and Institutional Relations. This trip demonstrates the enormous rewards that come from establishing connections with kindred institutions across the globe. Osgoode has terrific potential to be the bridge that connects the legal and academic community in Canada to the most vibrant parts of the world. Most of all, I am grateful to our friends and hosts in India, and particularly the leadership, faculty and staff of Jindal Global Law School. Their trip to Osgoode last fall and ours to India this spring has brought to life a lasting partnership. Dean Lorne Sossin March 2011